‘Lucky’ casino cashier wins 15 million TL
‘He borrowed the money to buy his 15TL quarter-ticket for Turkey’s National Lottery’
A LUCKY North Cyprus casino cashier has become a millionaire overnight after he won 15 million TL on Turkey’s National Lottery.
Another North Cyprus millionaire has yet to pick up their prize money, with the TRNC New Year lottery’s one million TL jackpot still unclaimed from the State Lotteries Department.
Department staff revealed yesterday that the winning ticket — number 119105 — had been sold by Gazimağusa agent Bingül Daşkın.
Turkey’s 61 million TL New Year’s Eve jackpot was shared by four people who each bought a share in winning ticket number 9794035.
One of them was Sedat Günay Öztürk, from Kırıkhan in Hatay and working at Lefkoşa’s Merit Hotel casino, who borrowed to be able to buy his 15TL quarter-ticket — and ended up scooping 15.25 million TL. The rest of the lucky quartet are based in Ankara, İstanbul and Samsun, in Turkey.
Cyprus Today tried to reach the new millionaire but understands that Mr Öztürk flew back to Turkey after spending two nights at the hotel, and has told a Turkish newspaper he would not return.
Announcing that he intended to build a mosque in his home town, he praised his erstwhile employers, saying: “Merit Group made a big change in my life. I thank all of them.”
Meanwhile there was agony for two Kıbrıs Media Group staff who missed out on the Turkish jackpot by a single digit, receiving 15,250TL runner-up prizes instead.
Halil Esendağlı, 51, from Akova, said: “I purchased five quarter-tickets from Taşer Kanlı, a mobile agent in Lefkoşa. On New Year’s Eve all of the family checked their tickets after the draw and I was the only one who didn’t bother.”
Next morning he said his daughter, Aslıhan, checked the tickets for him. “She looked at me, then her mother and said, ‘You’ve won.’ But when we checked together we realised we had lost 15 million TL by just one number.
“We looked at each other and there was silence for a moment.”
Mr Esendağlı, who said he would have given some of the prize money to needy children before paying off loans and spending on his family, said it had taken a few days to come to terms with the close shave.
“I am 51 years old [and] felt it could have been a turningpoint in my life if I had won. But this won’t get me down — I’ll still go on buying tickets.”
Colleague Bahri Zorlu, a father of two from Aslanköy who also bought his ticket from the same agent, said: “When I woke up on New Year’s Day I went next door and joined my neighbour, who was checking his tickets. I can’t remember anything after I saw I had ticket number 9794032.”
Mr Zorlu said he would have given up work, paid off loans and invested in property had he won, commenting: “I feel as if millions have slipped through my fingers.”